LIFE with LEXIE

I've been told I needed to add a new picture of Lexie and I so here it is. And I just had to add this picture of Lexie - she's just so cute in her bunny slippers!!

So I wanted to get something posted on the blog for Christmas but....here I am in January now trying to get something posted before the end of the month while I can still call it the New Year (I'm sure even the etiquette books would agree that Jan is still the New Year - Right?} So Merry belated Christmas and Happy 2008!!!!!!

Lexie and I had a terrific if not a hectic holidays (and I'm sure we're not the only ones.) I have to say sharing "firsts" with her are just wonderful. She enjoyed her visit to see Santa right up until the time that she realized I was going to leave her sitting on the lap of a strange man with scratchy stuff on his face and had a problem with his laugh. Then she put her arms straight out and had tears streaming down her face. So the shot I've included is just seconds after I stepped away and before she realized what I had done. Nothing like waiting for over an hour for a few seconds of joy. That sounds like...never mind. So her first trip to see Santa was pretty typical and off we flew to the relatives for a lot of holiday cheer.

Lexie truly loves being with her cousins Cody, Mackenzie and Brooke. I can't honestly say she loves Blake yet because at 2 1/2 months old he didn't do a lot but the picture of her as Mrs Claus and Blake as Santa is pretty cute. That was the closest they got the whole time. She'd just as soon be playing with the older kids. We got to go to Cody and Mackenzie's holiday parties at school which she thought was way cool since there where so many kids there. Cody and Z where very proud to have her in their classrooms and showed her off to everyone they could find. Even Uncle Jim got into the act by carrying her on his shoulders (even though I think that was more to keep her out of everything but she enjoyed it.)

Then my oldest nephew, Casey, finally got to meet for the first time her since he was at college when we got home and she really LOVED him. I have about 10 pictures of him holding her. Whenever she'd see him she'd put up her arms and say "UP." How could he resist. As you can see in a couple of the pictures he had to learn it was safe to hold her a little closer since she doesn't bite. Casey was actually very sweet (sorry to use that word Casey but it's true) with her and never ran away as I'm sure he was tempted to do. Thanks Casey! She also got to meet her Uncle Todd and Aunt Lori for the first time and enjoyed them as well. They just didn't have the appeal that Casey did but she still got some quality time with all of them.

Christmas Eve Mass was interesting since she and I spent 90% of it walking around at the back of the church. The children's room was full to over flowing so we got to visit baby Jesus in the manger a lot so at least he knew that we were there.Everyone looked nice as you can see from the pictures of all the cousins in front of the tree and then Grandma with all her grandkids. It was a special night and one a long time coming for me. Of course she was the best present of all.

Christmas itself was amazing and way over the top. Everyone decided that since Lexie didn't have a Christmas the first year of her life that they should make up for it this year. So the present opening lasted all day. She actually took two naps since she was just exhausted. I think her favorite part was tearing open the wrapping paper since I'm not sure if she even knew that there were toys in the boxes. It's so hard to get the toys out of the packaging these days that I opened very few of the actual toys since it took so long. But she had a great time the whole day and everyone was incredibly generous. Thank you all.

We also celebrated our first snow fall before Christmas and it was very unusual for the part of Washington that we live. We were very fortunate to have it and she really had fun after she learned to walk around with so much gear on. I have to say she wasn't sure about the whole snow angel thing. Of course the snow only lasted a couple of days so it was perfect. We also had our first carousel ride at the Zoo when we went to Zoo Lights. She liked the ride until it went up and down and around. But we shared a great evening with Grandma looking at the lights.

When we got back we celebrated our first New Years Eve together quietly at home, which was just fine with me. She, like most kids, fell asleep before the stroke of midnight but she still looked like the angel she is when I went in to give her a New Years kiss. I am so blessed. Since then we've been just playing with her new toys. I got her a little kitchen set and she's now officially a baker. She wears her apron almost everyday and will even take your order. She really likes to rock out on her piano with the microphone and in general she goes from the minute she gets up until she goes down for her nap (thank goodness she still takes two a day.) She's learning new words all the time and really understands so much of what we tell her. I'm hoping to get her into a play group or a day care a few days of the week so she can play with other kids her age. Anytime we are out and she sees another child, she goes right up to them and starts jabbering to them.

I look forward to may more firsts in 2008 and I can't wait to share them with you. As always, thanks for your love and support. Have a wonderful new year!!

I feel so bad that I haven't posted anything on this blog basically since I got back home with Lexie. It has been just a wonderful, exhausting and crazy time adjusting to her in my life. I really can't remember what it was like without her. She is doing so well in every way that I can't begin to express how grateful I am for this sweet, funny, smart, charming little girl.

She just turned 18 months and we celebrated our 6 months of knowing each other on Oct 25. For all the challenges that were involved in the trip to Aktau to get her, it now seems like it wasn't so bad (maybe I need to read the blog again to refresh my memory) and it seems like a very long time ago. Of course, we have only been home a little less than 4 months so I guess it hasn't been all that long. She has really just blossomed and watching her become more confident in herself (and her choices) has just been amazing. The hardest thing for me has been going back to work. I really don't want to go and I try to do as much as possible from home. Then I get distracted by her and don't get much done. Luckily she still takes two 2 hour naps a day and doesn't get up until around 9am and goes to bed around 9-9:30 at night, so there are a several hours a day I can work while she sleeps. So life is VERY good.

Physically, she finally cut her first two front teeth in Sept on the bottom and her top two front teeth just at the beginning of Nov. They are still coming in but the two on either side of her top teeth just broke through this last week. Hopefully she'll have a mouth full by her second birthday. She drools like crazy but doesn't really get very fussy. Again, I am so lucky. Now she also runs not walks whenever she can and loves stairs and is amazingly fast on the way up (much to my fear.) I have gotten her to slow down and go down on her tummy but I won't be comfortable around stairs for several more years I'm sure.

She weighs 22.5 lbs, which is about 5 more than when I meet her and is at least 1 inch taller. I'll have to measure her to find out if she's grown more since our last check up. Both her IA & regular pediatrician say she's doing just great and I couldn't agree more.

She helped me celebrate my birthday - the 29th again of course. That's her in the yellow bib with chocolate all over her face. She was hands down the best present I've ever received! Lexie also went to her first Blackberry Festival - that's the pictures of us in front of the shooting water fountain in the post before this one. She still loves water and has no fear of it what so ever. She actually fears very little. We also go to the park as much as possible and you can see her on her first slide and swing (also in the previous post.) She's all about speed so the slide is her favorite. And as you can see her hair is growing like crazy. I've had to cut the bangs twice but the rest just gets longer and curlier. I hope she keeps the curl in her hair as it keeps growing since it looks so cute.

We went back to Houston for the birth of my nephew, Blake Colton Wells, on Oct 2. He weighed 9 lbs 11 oz at birth and now at 8 weeks he weighs 14 1/2 lbs. Yes, he is one big baby. You can see him proudly held by his new big brother and sister. While we were there I took Lexie to her first soccer game to watch Cody & Mackenzie play. As they were playing hard so was Lexie!! It was still warm enough so we got to swim too. She truly loves the water and I had to drag her in the house after she turned into a prune. Oh my little bathing beauty.

We got back in time to take a few drumming lessons (thanks Uncle Jim for the musical instruments!) and then we worked on her Halloween outfit. She was the cutest Pink Poodle in town. She wasn't scared at all and had a great time. People would give her candy and she would give it right back. She is learning to share and thought this was another lesson. So we didn't have much candy in her bucket but she had a ball. The picture with her and the little lamb is Hannah the 7 month old baby of one of my friends at work that we went trick-or-treating with. They both completely ignored each other. I think Lexie actually just couldn't see Hannah because of her floppy ears.

Something else Miss Lexie likes is hats. They are her passion. One of her sitters knitted her a hat which she wares around the house all the time. So now she has a bit of a hat collection. As you can see she wares them well. I think the fuzzy pink pimp hat is my favorite so far.

And yes we went back to Houston for a third time in 4 months for Thanksgiving. Angie didn't want to fly with the new baby and who can blame her. Lexie has been a great little flyer so far and I hope she keeps it up for Christmas, as we'll head back down south for that as well. She really LOVES playing with her cousins and they are great with her. She helped Mackenzie bake one morning (the girls are a study in pink for this shot) and visited Cody at lunch in school one afternoon. Then Brooke got to hold her for the group picture on the couch. I've never had so much help except, of course, with the poopy diapers. Then they run as fast as they can away from her. She really knows how to clear a room and make her mommy proud!!

We also had a pre 7th birthday party for Mackenzie since we would have to miss her REAL birthday by a week. There's a picture of Lexie with the birthday fairly princess. Then Lexie really got into the cake - literally!!

Later we actually managed to get all the kids dressed up and take pictures of them in Angie's back yard. I think Angie got the best on her camera (which I don't have yet) because Lexie didn't think it was necessary to sit for so long and I was running after her more than I was taking pictures. But these aren't too bad. Then I put her in a couple of outfits I had but never got a chance to put on her in Washington because it got too cold. I love her in the sailor suit. As you can see I'm still taking a lot of pictures of her and luckily she's very photogenic. I'm not sure how much longer she'll put up with it so I'm taking advantage of it while I can.

That's about it for now. We are getting ready for Christmas which should be amazing. My mom, sisters and I had gotten some shopping done after Thanksgiving and had even gotten most of it wrapped while the kids were napping or playing outside. Once Lexie was up and exploring Angie's house in her usual fashion, I hear rrrrriiiipppp and sure enough. Lexie had opened her first present. Never mind that it wasn't for her and a month too soon. So Christmas shall be very interesting. I'm not sure if there will be any surprises left under the tree but it sure will be fun.

Thanks everyone for your interest, love and support for me and this wonderful little girl that I have the joy of calling my daughter.